


i apologize for any skipping tracks.

by porcelainsimplicity



Series: stereo hearts. [3]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - America, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-29 18:31:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16269935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/porcelainsimplicity/pseuds/porcelainsimplicity
Summary: i apologize for any skipping tracks, it's just the last one that played me left a couple cracks.or: the ex comes looking for Rey and it's time to tell Ben about him.





	i apologize for any skipping tracks.

Rey was having a perfectly fine day at work when Poe suddenly pulled her off of her chair and below the level of the counter. “Poe! What the fuck?”

“Shh,” Poe shushed, shoving Rey back to the ground when she tried to stand up. “Trust me, you do not want him to know that you're here.”

Though confused, Rey listened to Poe's advice, and when whoever it was she was hiding from opened their mouth and started speaking, Rey felt her blood start to boil.

Her no good, lousy, motherfucker of an ex was in the record shop. And from the sounds of it, he was looking for Rey to apologize.

To fucking _apologize_.

Apparently he didn't understand the fact that no apology on earth could ever make up for all of the shit that he'd done to Rey in their final days, and Rey really would have stood up and told him that to his face if it wasn't for the fact that Poe was already doing that.

And Poe sounded almost as furious as Rey felt, which was saying something, considering she'd never fully told her three best friends all of the details from the end of that particular relationship.

Eventually, the grating sound of her ex's voice faded away, and the shop door slammed shut, and Poe's hand stopped pushing down hard on Rey's shoulder. Rey stood up when Poe gave her the okay, and then she was staring at Poe with a new found appreciation for his friendship.

“I didn't know you were as angry as I am about him,” she said softly.

“You best believe we are,” Poe responded, pulling Rey into an impromptu hug. “No one treats our Rey that way and gets away with it.”

Rey buried her face in Poe's neck and took a few deep breaths. “I appreciate that, Poe.”

They broke apart when they heard the door open, Rey prepared to duck down again only to laugh when she realized it was just Ben. Ben, who was chatting away on his phone yet still smiling at the sight of Rey, and Poe just rolled his eyes and shoved Rey in Ben's direction.

Ben was still talking by the time that Rey reached him, but he had his arms open wide so Rey burrowed herself into Ben's embrace, nose pressed against his neck, arms around his waist. Ben was warm and inviting, was good memories of the past three months and the promise of good memories for the foreseeable future, and on days like this one, when Ben had been at Rey's the night before and went straight to work in the morning, he smelled like a delicious mixture of pastries, frosting, and Rey's shampoo.

Ben finished his conversation and dropped his phone into his pocket, and then his lips were on Rey's in a light kiss. “Ready for lunch?”

Rey broke away only for a second, to glance back at Poe with pleading eyes until he nodded, and then she was clinging to Ben again. “Yes. Get me out of here.”

*****

To say that lunch didn't go well was an understatement. Rey was trying, she really was, but every time Ben spoke, Rey heard an echo of her ex's voice in her head, and her ex had said some pretty nasty stuff to Rey in his day. Ben was regaling her with stories of mixer issues and flour going all over the place and Rey was laughing like she should be, but Ben could tell her heart wasn't really in it, and Rey knew it.

“I'm sorry. I'm trying, I am. It's just...”

“You've changed your mind about me since this morning?” Ben asked, and the fear in his eyes was real and Rey wanted to take that fear away and make sure Ben never felt it again.

“No! Nothing of the sort! I swear,” Rey said, trailing off. “The motherfucker was in the shop earlier, is all. And I don't have good days when that happens.”

They'd talked about the motherfucker enough for Ben to know exactly who Rey meant by saying that, and Ben's hand was across the table and linking together with Rey's before he could stop himself. “He's gone, Rey. He can't hurt you anymore.”

“Yeah, well, apparently he still can,” Rey said, deliberately changing the subject after that, much to Ben's dismay.

*****

“Poe should have told the motherfucker off,” Finn declared when he heard about the situation from earlier that day. “You know I would have.”

“Poe kind of did,” Rey said, sighing. “It's not even that. It's that I've let the asshole ruin my entire day, just like he probably wanted to because I don't believe for a fucking second that he wanted to apologize.”

Finn walked over to the Spanish rock section and started flipping through the bins. “So go home and let Ben pound you into the mattress. That should make your day better.”

“I don't think Ben's too happy with me at the moment,” Rey murmured. “He was very vague about whether he's going to come over tonight.”

Finn stopped and looked over at her. “Well you can't exactly blame the guy, can you? Three months he's been with you, and you can still be torn apart by a small visit from the motherfucker. I know I wouldn't take that well if that was happening to me.”

“Well it's a good thing that Rose doesn't have any asshole ex-boyfriends trying to ruin her life, then isn't it?”

Finn huffed. “For the ten millionth time, Rose and I—”

“Are not dating,” Rey finished. “So I've been told. But I believe what my eyes see more than anything the two of you have to say on the subject.”

“I don't know why I even bother.”

“Neither do I, since we both know that I'm right and you're wrong.”

Finn sighed and turned towards him. “Go home early. Make up with Ben. Stop pestering me about Rose.”

After the day that Rey had had, going home early sounded like a great idea. “Alright, I will.”

*****

She was a third of the way through her fourth listen to _Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band_ when there was a soft knock on her door. Rey climbed off of the sofa and walked towards the door, opening it to find Ben standing there, a record in his hands and a pensive look on his face. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Ben said softly. “May I come in?”

Rey nodded and moved aside so that Ben could walk into the apartment, then shut the door behind them. She trailed a few steps behind Ben as Ben walked into the sitting room and watched as Ben knelt down in front of the record player and stopped it right in the middle of _Getting Better_. “I was listening to that.”

“Shh,” Ben shushed. “We're going to listen to this.”

Rey collapsed down on the sofa in a huff, because _Sgt. Pepper_ was totally her listen-to-after-the-ex-is-a-motherfucker album, but then Ben started the record player up again and she felt her anger melt away.

_Elvis_. The record that had brought them together.

Ben joined her on the sofa and Rey held him close, kissing him deeply. “Ben...”

“Shh,” Ben shushed again. “Everything's alright. Just listen.”

*****

When the first side of the record finished playing, Rey didn't let Ben get up and change it. Instead she told Ben everything about the end of her relationship with the motherfucker, even the stuff that she'd not told the others, and all about the visit from the motherfucker earlier that day. And Ben held her close and stroked her hair, kissed her when Rey started getting choked up, then whispered in her ear that he was never going to hurt her like that. And Rey didn't know why, but for some reason, she believed him. 


End file.
